Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek: The Original Series; if I did, it would not have ended as soon as it did.
They materialized on the planet with no issues, something McCoy was always grateful for after every trip he had to make using the transporters. Standing in the bright afternoon sun, the three men took in their surroundings. They stood on a smooth, white stone walkway. If McCoy had to guess it was something closely resembling the marble often used in sculptures and in kitchens on Earth. Directly ahead of them was a structure unlike any they'd ever seen before. The whole building, every seventy-three or so feet of it, was made of glass.
It wasn't simple clear glass either. The embassy was shaped like a bunch of soap bubbles that had coalesced together. The first, lower level 'bubbles' were arranged in a triangle formation and were made up of a dark blue glass which went from really dark blue near the base of the structure and slowly faded to a really light blue near the top before blending into a green of the lightest tint. On top of these three floor 'bubbles' was a fourth one, right in the middle. This one was the color of a ruby with stripes of yellow flowing through it.
There were clear glass steps leading into an oval opening in the base to the lower bubble that was immediately opposite where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy stood. Coming down from those steps and hurrying over to them was the Ambassador. He was a relatively middle aged man; McCoy guessed he was no older than fifty-five, with an average build and height, his short hair graying a bit with age. Jogging up to them he stopped in front of Kirk and held out his hand.
"Hello Captain, I'm Mark Poletsig the Federation Ambassador. It's nice to finally meet you in person."
Kirk shook the Ambassador's hand and motioned to the two men beside him.
"Ambassador, this is my First Officer, Mister Spock,"
Spock inclined his head in a nod of greeting to the Ambassador before Kirk continued.
"And my Chief Medical Officer, Leonard McCoy."
McCoy nodded in much the same manner as Spock had, the Ambassador smiling and nodding to each of them in turn before turning back to Kirk.
"Well I think we should head in to meet the Head of Science of Covillis II. I know he's been wanting to meet with you Captain since I told him you agreed to speak with him."
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy followed the Ambassador back to the embassy.
"The Head of Science? Not the Governor or President?"
"Oh no, they don't seem to have that sort of government style here. Apparently, they're so focused on science and technology that they don't have a need for any sort of rule or law. When asked about it they said that there was no need for one, said that every Covilli focused on the research that they were doing and that the children were instructed by their parents what to do and not to do. It seems that since these people don't have any emotions, no one feels the need to go against the established rules of conduct on the planet. Although it is interesting to note that the children actually have emotions, so how they keep them in-line is anybody's guess."
McCoy perked up at the mention of the children and was about to inquire more about them as they all made their way up the steps and into the embassy when both he and Kirk stopped dead at the top of the stairs, Spock and the Ambassador continuing on.
"T-The floor!"
Spock stopped a few steps away and looked back at both men, a slightly amused twinkle could be seen in his eyes if one knew where to look for it.
What had stopped the two men was the fact that at the top to the stairs, the floor seemed to drop into a bottomless pit. The clear glass of the stairs continued into the floor of the embassy, completely unscuffed by flow of traffic, making it appear as if it wasn't there at all. Which would have been fine except for the fact that below the glass was what appeared to be nothing except a complete void. The illusion caused by such a setting was that it appeared as if one was walking through air with nothing below them, but darkness.
"Captain, do you or the Doctor require any assistance?"
Kirk gave a wan smile, carefully taking another step on the glass before gaining confidence that there was something actually there and joining Spock. McCoy did the same before they all went to catch up with the Ambassador further ahead.
"Now Spock, you can't tell me that that didn't shock you one little bit when you first saw it."
"Quite the contrary Doctor. I found the illusion to be most fascinating."
"Fascinating?! Spock, it was like almost walking off a cliff."
"I suggest you pay more attention to where you step then, Doctor, so as to be more aware should you almost walk off a cliff next time."
Kirk failed to suppress the smile that came to him as McCoy started to mumble under his breath about a green-blooded hobgoblin and cliffs. He had fallen for the same illusion as McCoy after all.
They quickly rejoined Ambassador Poletsig and continued into the main atrium, where they were met by the Head of Science on Covillis II. The Covilli were humanoid in shape, like most intelligent life-forms they had met in their travels. The Head of Science, whose name was Mtolee, stood about six feet high and had a light brown complexion with no hair on him at all. His forearms were striped with orange that melded back into simple brown at about the elbow and his eyes were a bright purple, with vertical eyelids that blinked as he watched them draw closer.
"Mtolee, I would like to introduce you to Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, his Science and First Officer Spock, and his Chief Medical Officer, McCoy."
Ambassador Poletsig made the introductions and Mtolee looked at each of them in turn. He then addressed them in a deep, strong voice.
"Greetings to you all. I recognize two of you as Terrans, however the third..."
Spock nodded in respect to the Covilli.
"I am of Vulcan."
Mtolee inclined his head in understanding, McCoy figured he must have been told about Vulcans at some point since nothing needed to be explained to him. Mtolee turned back towards Kirk and spoke directly.
"So you have come to speak to us on how your kind travels the stars."
It wasn't really a question, just a statement of fact. Kirk replied in the positive anyway and Mtolee shifted his body towards a hallway that led away from the atrium.
"If you will come with me, there is seating and drinks where we may discuss our matters in an environment your kind seems to find tolerable."
Interesting word choices. Almost sounds like a robot. McCoy smirked as the group started to follow Mtolee out. He grabbed Kirk's shoulder as he was passing him though to get his attention.
"Hey Jim, mind if I walk around and look while you go talk? I kinda want to see if I can find any of those children he mentioned."
Kirk looked between the group walking away and McCoy before nodding his head.
"Alright, but don't go getting into trouble."
"I won't. How much trouble can you get into in a city of Spocks?"
Kirk walked to catch up with the leaving group and McCoy turned around and headed back the way they had come.
Stepping out into the sunshine again, McCoy inhaled a deep breath before releasing it in a rush. Blinking, he sniffed the air and noticed a scent that he hadn't picked up earlier when he had been there with Jim and Spock. It smelled like flowers, or at least what he assumed flowers smelled like on this planet. So, he set off, heading off to the left of where he came out and rounding the side of the embassy.
After about ten minutes of walking he found the source of the smell. It was a garden. Full of hundreds of exotic alien flowers and plants, all arranged in circular flowerbeds. Walking amidst the garden, he breathed in the scent wafting from the different plants. As he did so he began to feel light-headed, but with a sense of growing happiness and joy.
A scream suddenly tore through the quiet, peaceful setting and McCoy jolted to his senses with a shock, looking around quickly to see where the source of the scream had come from and if anyone needed help. Instead, what he saw was a Covilli child, shrieking and laughing as she ran between the sections of the garden. McCoy immediately relaxed and smiled. It was just a child having fun.
Wait...
McCoy watched the child, so obviously full of emotion, and yet, for whatever reason, the Covilli lose it all when they get older. Taking out his tricorder, McCoy scanned the child discreetly from a distance. Nothing seemed wrong or different between this child and the medical information he had seen on adult Covilli that the first contact team had taken. Maybe it was in the brain. That would make sense, after all, that's where emotions were controlled and regulated in most humanoids. He needed to get closer though if he was going to hope for a chance to take a specific reading on the child's head...
"Are you in need of assistance, Terran?"
McCoy jumped from shock. Whirling around he found an adult Covilli behind him, its purple eyes staring as he tried to calm himself down again. Taking a few deep breaths he found the flowery aroma of the garden quickly sapped his feelings of panic that had momentarily set in from the sudden appearance of another Covilli. Interesting sensation, he'd have to look to see if the plant's had some affect on brain chemistry when he got the chance. Back to the Covilli though.
He's possibly the parent, who probably didn't appreciate some unknown alien taking interest in their child. God, you should know better, Leonard!
"No, I'm alright. Sorry I didn't mean to be rude. Is that your kid over there?"
The Covilli shook his head.
"No, that is another's. What were you scanning for in the child?"
Ah, busted. Well, this was a society of scientists, so maybe he'd understand.
"Well, I was curious as to why the child seemed to be overflow'n with emotion, yet you adults don't seem to have any at all. I was taking a reading of her body stats, just try'n to see if it had something to do with brain chemistry, when you come up behind me and practically give me a heart attack."
His Georgian drawl was getting thicker. Perhaps the garden was making him too relaxed.
"You are correct, it does have to do with a difference in the brain's neurological signals. She has not been purged of her emotions yet, which is why she still displays them so, and it is why she is here while her parental units are away."
"That's interesting...What do ya mean by purged? What's so important about her being in this garden?"
"By purged I mean that she has not reached the age where her emotions have been removed yet. As for the garden, the plants in this area have been specifically cultivated to emit a relaxant that calms the young ones' emotions. A child can be left here to feel content while the parent is away doing research without the distraction of all of the emotion."
Made sense. The thing about the purge was interesting. It almost sounded like a version of puberty that the child had to go through to lose its emotions. McCoy couldn't believe though that a parent would willingly leave such a young child alone, on their own and in the open so that they could get work done. All over a simple case of emotions. It was enough to make McCoy mad, if he had felt up to that.
"I am curious, I have seen how you Terrans react to things. It is much like how the children act. The emotions you exhibit seem to control your actions more so than logical thought does. Why do you permit this?"
McCoy had to laugh. It sounded like one of the many conversations that had started up between Spock and him over the years of working together on the Enterprise. The Covilli continued to stare at him and still trying to suppress a chuckle, McCoy answered his question the same way he would answer Spock.
"Well, us Terrans are reliant on our emotions. They help us live and adapt through different situations. We also use them with logic to make decisions."
"They do not impede your ability to make choices or accomplish something?"
"Oh, yes, they do that. Sometimes all too often. Take me for example. I'm a doctor and sometimes my emotions get in the way of me look'n at things in an objective manner when it comes to my patients. I care too much and I won't let go of the hope that I can still do something, when logically, I know there's no way I can save them."
He chuckled thinking about some of his experiences on the Enterprise.
"There have been times when I cared more for my patient's health than my own. I'd wear myself ragged until my own nurse had to kick me out of the sickbay so I could rest up. There have probably also been times when Jim, he's my captain, has gotten worried when I rush in to help a patient in a dangerous situation, not thinking twice about the danger I'm putting my own self in."
The Covilli led him over to a bench by a bed of flowers and sat down.
"In your profession, these emotions of yours seem to hinder rather than help you."
"Yea, it does seem that way, don't it? It's not all bad though. We're not able to remove our emotions like you Covilli seem to. We just deal with what we can."
The Covilli brushed a few of the flowers behind him and then stood up, wearing something close to what he would call a contemplative look if it had been on Spock.
"You should sleep now."
"Wha-"
Before he could finish his sentence he suddenly couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. Drifting back, he laid against the stone of the bench and promptly fell asleep before he had time to register anything else.
Two hours later, Jim, Spock, and Ambassador Poletsig walked out of the embassy. Kirk stretched from having to sit still for so long.
"Ok, I knew he wanted to ask me questions, but god, I didn't expect so many could be asked about how I feel about exploring in space. Without using emotional terms either."
"Indeed Captain, Mtolee was quite thorough in his questioning."
"Well Ambassador, are we ready to leave?"
Ambassador Poletsig looked over a few of the data disks he was caring before nodding to Kirk.
"Yes, I think that's everything. I'm rather excited to get back to a starbase so I can download and review everything for the Federation hearing on the planet."
"Well, I hope everything goes well, Ambassador."
Flipping over his communicator, Kirk tuned it a bit before speaking.
"Kirk to McCoy. Bones, are you ready to leave? We're in front of the embassy."
Waiting a bit, but getting no response, Kirk tried again. Still nothing. Trying not to let worry enter into his tone, Kirk hailed the Enterprise.
"Kirk to Enterprise."
"Enterprise here, Capt'n."
"Scotty, can you get a lock on McCoy's communicator?"
"Aye, Capt'n. Just a sec...It's about 0.4 km to the North of ya. Very close, I'm surprised ya don't see 'em."
"Alright, thanks Scotty. We'll grab Bones and then be beaming on board. Stand by."
Shutting his communicator with a snap, Kirk turned to find Spock already heading in the direction of where McCoy was supposed to be. Turning to the Ambassador, Kirk told him to wait there, that they'd be back soon, before following Spock around the side of the embassy.
"Bones...Bones!"
McCoy was roughly shaken awake from where he lay sleeping on the bench. Groggily opening his eyes, he found Jim crouched next to him, hand on his shoulder, with Spock standing behind him, looking at the read-out of his tricorder.
"Jim? What happened? Ugh."
"What's wrong"
"Nothing...just a headache."
Kirk helped McCoy up to his feet as he came back to his senses. Spock looked up from his tricorder.
"Fascinating, these plants seem to emit a type of sedative and relaxant."
"Yeah, someone told me it was to help keep the overly emotional children calm and out of the way of the adults."
"Who told you that, Bones?"
"It was just one of the adult Covilli around here. Was right before I ended up falling asleep. Must have gotten too big of a dose from one of the plants."
"Logical."
"Well, if you're done sleeping, Bones, it's time to get back to the ship."
"Alright, Captain."
Fully back to awareness and headache slowly fading, McCoy fell in line with Spock and headed back to where they had left the Ambassador.